EVALUATION OF ESSENTIAL ELEMENT LEVELS IN THALASSEMIA MAJOR PATIENTS OF QUETTA CITY, PAKISTAN

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate essential element levels in thalassemia major patients of Quetta city, Pakistan. Methods: A single cohort, observational based study design was adopted. Evaluation of some essential element levels in thalassemia major patients was investigated through flame photo meter, CBC analyzer and commercially available kits.. The investigations were conducted on 325 thalassemia major patients of both genders. Investigated data were arranged by SPSS v. 20 and consider significant when p values were <0.05. Results: Three hundred twenty five thalassemia major patients take part in study. One hundred and seventy five (53.8%) respondents were males in majority and maximum patients were from the age group of 6-10 years. In term of ethnic group, the maximum thalassemia major patients were Pathan (n= 92, 28.3%). Majority of thalassemia major patients had A+ blood group (28.6% and n= 93). Zinc (51.6144+7.22) showed maximum concentration of 66.79 mmol/L and minimum concentration of 37.30 mmol/L. Copper (147.66+9.13) had maximum concentration 160.12 mmol/L and minimum concentration of 106.72 mmol/L. Calcium (8.3499+0.171) was resulted with maximum concentration of 8.89 mmol/L and minimum concentration of 8.02 mmol/L. Chlorides (101.98+0.56) showed maximum concentration of 103.2 mmol/L and minimum concentration of 100.5 mmol/L while sodium (134.99+1.105) showed maximum concentration of 137.2 and minimum of 131.6 mmol/L. Potassium (4.7047+0.121) had maximum concentration of 4.95 mmol/L and minimum concentration of 4.00 mmol/L in this study. From CBC, the hemoglobin concentration was (6.52 + 1.16) and RBCs counts were (4.75 + 0.52) which had maximum concentration of 9.2 g/dL. Conclusion: The current study concluded that zinc and calcium concentration was low from normal range concentration, while copper, sodium and potassium levels were high from the normal level of these elements.